Now, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn back with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I read through this letter twice
yesterday, and have read through it many times over the years. And I assure you of this, that
it's full of blessings, instruction, reproof, and encouragement, if
you'll take time to read it. And I encourage you to do that
this afternoon. The last time I read through
it, I wondered to myself, because I thought about reading this
entire epistle to you this morning. So I timed it. And I just read
through it. I didn't read it fast. I just
read through it as you'd be reading something during one of your
devotions. I read through it and noticed
the time. It took exactly 10 minutes. So I don't think anybody's
schedule is so important and so filled that you couldn't spare
ten minutes to read through this blessed portion of Scripture. And there's many things in this
letter that I could call your attention to and use to strengthen
your faith. This is that book, this epistle,
of which I refer all the time, where he says, I know your election
of God. That's 1 Thessalonians. And I
could go through and give you many verses in here that are
very good verses, very clear teachings of the Scripture and
that would help you. But I felt impressed as I read
through this to just speak on a single verse of scripture.
And I'm not going to this morning. Somebody's going to clap and
say, well, yay, I'm glad of that. But I'm not going to go through
this morning, and I'm not going to be talking about false religion,
and I'm not going to be talking about all the things that ruffle
your hair and get you all upset and all of that type of thing.
And those things are needful. I'm going to tell you the truth.
And the only way I can tell you the truth is to tell you the
truth. There's no other way to do it. I can't go around the
corner, I can't sneak up on you, I can't put the medicine in the
milk. I have to just tell you. And that's what preaching is,
is a declaration. But I think every so often the
Lord wants us to be comforted and to have reasons to rejoice. reasons to rejoice, and I was
thinking about all the things in my own life, and things that
we're going through now, and things that some of you who are
beginning to miss a few days now, and you're ill, and you're
getting old, and these things creep up on you, and that's just
the way life is. That's the way it is. And I thought
to myself, I want to give them, I want to give you something
this morning to rejoice in. And I read through there, and
I come upon this verse, it's just two words, rejoice evermore. That's what he said. That's the
end of all these things that he's teaching us here in this
epistle. If you've responded to what he
said, if you've learned from his teaching, if you've taken
note of what the Apostle Paul says in this epistle, This will
be the result right here. Rejoice evermore. Paul wrote in Hebrews chapter
3 verse 6 and said, But Christ as a Son over His own house,
whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, now listen,
and the rejoicing. Huh? You sure that word is supposed
to be in there? I think the Holy Spirit put it
right where He wanted. Don't you? We're His house if
we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
unto the end. And then I know this for sure.
When we fall away, when Satan snares, He lays out before us,
and we're caught in the snare. I know this. The first thing
to depart is the rejoicing. And you know, when David prayed
after all that he did, all of those things that he fell into
after he prayed, what did he pray for? Lord, he said, return
unto me the joy of my salvation. Rejoice! Rejoice! Brother Joe Moore, came to visit
with us last week and he asked me, he said, how do you know
you're calling? He called me later on that afternoon
and he said, would I be intruding too much if I came over this
evening and just sit down and talk to you around the table?
I said, no, not at all. So he came over and we talked
about things and he told me a lot about that religion that he's
coming out of. But here's something he asked
me along the way. He said, How did you know your
calling into the ministry? How did you know that? And I
gave him several things, God's providence, a willing heart, pastor's recommendation, and
so on, and talked about, you know, the Lord seems to be able
to give me the words and the gifts to communicate what I know,
and so on. But I said in the end, What I
looked for more than anything else, more than gifts and talents
and all of that stuff, was to see that what I preached touched
the hearts of those that I preached to. It's of little benefit if
it don't. Isn't it? It's of little benefit. I read to him this passage over
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul said in verse 1, he said,
do we begin again to commend ourselves to you? This church
that he dug out of nothing, this church of which he was the founder,
he said, do I have to begin again to commend myself to you? Or
need we, as some others, epistles or letters of commendation to
you or letters of commendation from you? He said, you are our
epistle. You are my letter, written in
our hearts, known and read of all men, for as much as you are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living
God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of
the heart. The message that I preached communicated
to men. And it didn't just communicate
to them like a college professor. I told them up in St. Louis,
I said, don't lecture me. If I want to be lectured, I'll
go to school. I'll go into a college somewhere
and sit down and he can lecture me. I want to be lectured. Preach
to my heart. Talk to my heart. Well, you can't
do that apart from God. You can't do it. You can't do
it. And so if I'm looking for a solemn reason, if I'm looking
for something there to justify my calling, if I'm going to look
for anything, I'm going to look for that. Is God speaking through
me to you? Does He do that? And He did. But preachers, what is this thing
all about, this rejoicing, rejoicing? I tell you that, that which I
cannot do and can never be sufficient of myself to do, to speak to
the hearts of chosen sinners. As he describes it in 1 Thessalonians
1, His gospel coming not in word only, but in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. What a glorious, gratifying experience
it is to see the Lord speaking through you to His beloved saints. You can see them light up all
over. when they hear the truth. Listen to how Paul describes
this in chapter 2 of this very letter. 1 Thessalonians 2.19,
he said, For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory
and joy. That's what Paul wanted to see.
At the end of time, he wanted to see those saints that he ministered
to at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preserved, saved, true faith, true repentance,
rejoicing, ye are our glory and joy. And as I sought the Lord
for the word for you this morning, I desire to give you a word of
comfort and a word to lift you up and the word to put a smile
on your face and hope in your heart. And I believe this will
if the Lord be pleased to communicate it through me to you. He said,
Rejoice evermore. Preacher, I want to rejoice,
but things are a little bleak right now. Things are a little
bleak right now. I'm under heavy trials. I've
got problems. Some of them physical, some of
them financial, some of them spiritual. Well, let's look at these words
here. Rejoice evermore. There's not an if in the text,
is there? He just said rejoice. He didn't
say rejoice if. He said rejoice. There's no if
in the text. There's no when in the text. He said, rejoice evermore. There's no providential qualification
at all in the text. Rejoice evermore. Now evermore means always and
forever, but it also means ever increasing, ever more to rejoice. Can I rejoice today? I ought
to be able to rejoice more tomorrow if I'm growing in grace and knowledge
of God, shouldn't I? My rejoicing ought to grow, not
diminish. It ought to grow. Well, I see
in these two words two headings concerning this rejoicing. I
see present and future. First, he seems to say to us,
rejoice Now, rejoice in your present state. Rejoice. Rejoice. But how can I rejoice? I'm dying of cancer. How can
I rejoice? Huh? How can I rejoice? I'm dying of old age. I'm about
ready to lay this body down. How can I rejoice? I have this. I have that. Let me give you
five or six things to think about even in your present condition
this morning. First of all, rejoice evermore
because you're a pardoned sinner. Huh? Get your eyes off of things
that's going on around you and know this. There's a judgment
out there. There's a judgment out there,
and we're going to meet Him in that judgment. Believe or don't
believe, you're still going to meet Him. You're not going to
get past it. You're not going to get around it. Whatever it
is in this life that so consumes your mind, you better set your
mind on this. God has appointed a day in which
he'll judge this world in righteousness by that man. There's a judgment. And we're pardoned sinners. Judgment no longer looms over
my future. There is therefore now, Paul
said, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Judgment no longer looms over
my future. Those clouds are gone. There's
just the sunshine of glory left. I can rejoice in that, can't
you? I'm going to die. I may not die today, but I've
been dying since I was born. And I tell you this, that judgment
is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, that judgment's
gone. I'm a pardoned sinner. And I
tell you, if this were the only benefit the believer would receive,
it'd be enough for him or her to rejoice forever. Was sanctified,
he said, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Made a saint. Once for all, that's
what a saint is, a sanctified one. All these other priests
stood and ministered all their lives, offering sometimes and
often the same sacrifices over and over, which could never put
away our sins. But Christ appeared one time
in the end of the world and put away our sins by the sacrifice
of himself. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He took my judgment. He took
my judgment. And what makes believers rejoice
even when their bodies failed and fiery trials assault them?
is that the Holy Ghost reveals to them that their sins and iniquities
God remembers no more. Boy, I tell you what, the churches
remember them though, don't they? Huh? They got to remind you of
them every time they get up. What you didn't do. What you
didn't do. Here's what you didn't do. Got
that finger shaking it and telling you what you didn't do. Oh, listen
to me. My friend, here's where rejoicing
comes in. This is why the believer can
rejoice. His sins and iniquities, God remembers no more. Why? Because He put them away.
He said He put them behind His back. I can see pretty good,
even when I hold my hand out here, I can see. When I'm looking
at you, I can see. But I can't see back here. God
took my sins and put them behind His back. He scattered them as
far as the east is from the west, and buried them in the uttermost
parts of the sea. They're gone. They're gone. And though men may remind me
of my sins, and I might remind myself of my sins, God remembers
my sins no more. I'm a pardoned sinner. Huh? Woo, I can rejoice in that. I
can rejoice in that. Rejoice evermore because you
are a pardoned sinner. And then secondly, rejoice evermore
because we have an answer of a good conscience toward God.
My conscience might convict me, but I have an answer for it.
I have an answer for it. And I have a good answer for
it. It's an answer of a good conscience toward God. My sins
have been put away in Christ. My conscience still accuses me
before God. It's because I cannot find in
Christ the sufficiency and satisfaction of God required to put it away.
Once you find that you have a good, you have an answer. You have
an answer to that convicting conscience. Having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, he said, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with the pure water of
God's Word. I'm going to tell you something.
No man has perfect faith. No man has perfect faith. You
can't read in the Bible about Abraham's faith, that great faith
of Abraham, and not be convicted about your faith. No man has
perfect faith. All men have doubts and fears.
But it's not a perfect conscience that causes us to rejoice before
God, but a perfect Savior who answers the conscience. You see,
that's why we can't find assurance before God, because we're looking
for it in ourselves. We're trying to find that perfect
conscience. We're trying to find that strong
enough faith. We're trying to find that experience
that shook us, some kind of a landmark, some kind of a point or a plateau
or something in our life. That's not where it is. It's
in the perfect Savior. And He answers that guilty conscience. No man has perfect faith. All
men fear and doubt. But it's not the perfect conscience
that causes us to rejoice, but the perfect Savior, whose blood
and righteousness gives us the assurance that our sins are gone. The very Ark of Noah, Peter said,
was a picture of baptism and how that baptism saves us. And
it wasn't because that it put away sin, but it was the answer
of a good conscience toward God. Those who had a good conscience
toward God without reservation entered into the ark. They entered
into the ark. Only one thing prevents men and
women from baptism, and that is an accusing conscience. And
that accusing conscience brings doubts and fear. And there's
only one reason why your conscience still condemns you, and that's
because you cannot or will not rest in the sufficiency of His
righteousness and His sacrifice. That's what stands in the way,
really, isn't it? I can't rest in that. I'm looking
for that and something else. No, it's just this. It's just
this. This has been the, really it's
been the landmark of why all these churches keep appearing
all over the country because this is not enough. It takes
this and this. No, it's just this. It's just
this. It's just Christ. It's just Christ. If my conscience accuses me before
God, it's because I can't find in Christ that sufficiency and
satisfaction of God required to put my sins away. He said,
having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near
and let us come to Him. Rejoice evermore, even in this
present state, even in my sickness and pain, even in this sinful
world, even under the persecution of this world. Why? All right, here's the third reason. because I've got one who's willing
and able to bear my burdens. He bears my burdens. I tell you,
it's one thing to be sick by yourself, but it's another thing
altogether to have him with you. It's one thing to be in the ship
in the storm. It's another thing to have him
in the vessel with you. Come unto me, he said, all you
that are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. David said
this, he said, cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain
you. Why? Because He's willing and
able to carry it. You know, I told some folks one
time, I don't know if I've told this here or not, but there was
a hitchhiker, and it was raining. And boy, he was anxious to get
a ride. He had this big backpack and all this stuff. He'd been
walking forever. And along comes this car. And he pulls over,
and he runs up there, and he gets in the front seat, and it's
raining, and this guy looks in his mirror, you know, and doesn't
see anything coming, and he pulls out. When he turns around, the
guy still got his backpack on. He's sitting in the front seat
all hunched over, and he said, he said, just take that pack
off and throw it in the back. He, oh, no, no, no. He said,
you was nice enough to pick me up. He said, I'll carry my own
pack. If you won't carry it, the Lord
will let you. But he's willing and able to carry it. Huh? He's willing and able to carry
it. Why? He was carrying him in the pack
anyway. Huh? And that's what we do. Oh, he
said, cast all your cares upon him, Paul said, for he cares
for you. Can you rejoice in that? Oh,
my soul. There's one who has the full
favor of God. who sits now at God's right hand,
whose eyes are ever over the righteous, and his ears open
to their cries." Think about that. His eyes are always on
the righteous, and his ears, John, open to their cries. There was a lot of men crying,
but God heard Israel. Didn't he? He heard Israel. And then here's another thing.
Rejoice evermore because you're sons of God. If you're saved,
you're a son. You're a son. A son of God. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, these are the sons of God. Led by Him to hear the truth. led by Him to see your need for
Christ, led by Him to believe on Christ, led by Him to rejoice
in Christ. Because you are sons, Paul said,
sons predestinated by the purpose of God, sons chosen in electing
love, sons adopted through the firstborn of God. Because you
are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. If you can close your eyes and
with a true heart, cry, Father. You're a son. You're a son. And then he said, if we're sons,
then we're heirs of God and join heirs with Christ. Heirs of glory
and heirs of eternity. Heirs of a new creation. Heirs
of eternal life. But how does this sonship come?
Well, it says, as many as received him. Received, what do you mean
received him? Received him as the propitiation
set forth by God. Received him as the substitute,
the sin bearer. Received him in his offices as
prophet, priest, and king. He's the wisdom of God. He's
the sacrifice that God alone. We look to Him. As many as received
Him. Receive Him as He set forth in
the Word of God. Receive Him as He set forth in
the preaching of the Gospel. Exalted. The Exalted One. The God-Man. As God has set it
forth. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become sons of God. How did He do that? Because they were born. And to
make a long story short, they were born of God. So let's rejoice
this morning. Rejoice because you're a pardoned
sinner. And rejoice because you've got
a good conscience toward God. And rejoice because we have one
willing and able to bear our burdens. And rejoice because
you're sons of God. And then fifthly, rejoice because
you have access to God. I tell you, this world thinks
they have access to God, but they don't. They don't. You read Proverbs chapter 1,
you'll find out those who have put him off and put him off and
put him off until they've gone over into whatever it is that
they've gone over into. That he gave them over to themselves
to believe a lie and be damned. And when they cry, he don't hear.
He said, you'll seek me early, but you won't find me. I thought
we could seek God anytime we wanted to. That's not what the
scripture said. Is it? He said, today, if you hear
His voice. Huh? Today. You may not hear His voice tomorrow.
He said, in that day, they gonna seek me early, but they're not
gonna find me. They'll call on me then. But He said, I won't
answer them. I won't answer. Oh, rejoice because
you have access to God. What in the world is it that
could take away your rejoicing if you have access to God? Huh? He's the source of rejoicing,
isn't He? He's the source. This is where the treasure is.
It's in God. Paul said, you're dead. You're
nothing. You're dead. But your life is hid with Christ
in God. So set your affections on things
above, not down here on things of the earth. Set your affections
up there. Up there. Oh, we have access
to God and He's the source of all the rejoicing. And then think
about this. We can rejoice evermore because
we have an abundance of grace in Christ. Where sin did abound,
grace does much more abound. Abound in grace. Grace abounds,
John, more than my sin. My sin abounds. I sin all the
time. I don't want to. I sin and don't
even know I sin. I'm a sinner. That's what I am,
a sinner. But I'm a sinner saved by grace. And the grace superabounds my
sin. There's nothing wanting for the
sinner that's not already produced, already set in place for him
by the free grace of God. It's abounding grace. It's grace
before grace and grace upon grace. It's all grace. Grace and truth
came to us through Jesus Christ. And no matter what the trial
or what the sickness or what the trouble, He assures us of
this, my grace is sufficient. Isn't that what He says? Abounding grace. Abounding grace. Is there anything unforeseen
that the all-seeing, all-knowing God has not already made provision
for by His grace? He chose us by His grace. It's
an election of grace. Isn't that what he said in Romans
chapter 11? His appearance on this earth
is grace come down to men. By grace are you saved through
faith. And it's to the praise of the
glory of His grace that we're accepted in the beloved. It's
all of grace. So even in our present state,
we have an abundance of reasons to rejoice. What about the future? Huh? What about the future? Preacher,
that's what's troubling me. The future. Is that what troubles
you? Does death cause you sadness?
Why? Why? He that believeth on me
shall never die. Ain't that what that says? Shall
never die. David said, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for
thou art with me. Isn't that what the hope of glory
is? Christ in you, Christ with you. He said, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. My friend, death for the believer
is not going away. It's coming home. It's coming
home. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Now he starts that chapter out
there in John by telling him, he said, now let not your heart
be troubled. Huh? Isn't that what he said?
Let not your heart be troubled. Oh, he said, I go. He said, I'm
going away. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go, I'll return and receive you unto myself. That
where I am there, you may be awesome. Death for the believers
going home and death for the believers a blessed day. Upon
his death he receives the full inheritance of that which he
now only has a token. I've just got a token. I've just
got a down payment. I've got the earnest of my inheritance. And that day I'll have the full
inheritance. A new body. A new mind. A new environment. every evidence
of sin gone forever. No more tears, no more sorrow,
no more guilt, no more doubt, no more fear. It's a day of blessing. And death is but the shedding
of that which is corruptible. I tell you, you look at this
body and now there's spots and wrinkles and I tell you what I see is death,
death, death. It's corrupting. It's corrupting.
It's going back to the dust. And that's what death is. It's
just the shedding of that which is corruptible. Over in 1 Corinthians
15, we always read that at funerals. You need to sit down and read
through that chapter. He gets down to the end, and
here's the end of the whole thing. He said, this corruptible must
put on incorruption. Huh? And this mortal, immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. It's just swallowing up of that
which is death. That's all it is. This new man
will never die. Never die. This world and all
the devils in hell can do nothing to the saint but that which works
together for their good and ushers him into the arms of Christ. That's all he can do. Now here's
the conclusion of the matter. A sad believer cheats himself
out of the joy of the whole journey. That's what he does. My youngest
daughter, she'll shoot me for telling this, but she joined the Army. And we sent
her out to Missouri, out there where the Rangers and all that
go through boot camp. She went out there and went through
boot camp, and we went out to get her and bring her home. And
she'd never really been anywhere, any kind of big cities or seen
anything or anything. She just kind of raised there
in Danville, that little town around. So when we got her, we
started back home. And we were going to stop and
show her the St. Louis Arch. And we were going to go down
and go in. There's a big frontier museum down there at the base
of the arch. And you can go in there and you
can see all these artifacts from the Indians and the early explorers
and all that kind. She didn't want to do anything
but go home. That's all she wanted to do, get home. Because those
old friends and those old acquaintances there that she thought really
loved her, who were in fact her enemies, that's what she wanted. She wanted to get home to that.
And so her affection was set on those things, and she cheated
herself out of all the joy, everything, these fine restaurants, everything
we want to take her into, she didn't want any part of it. Just
wanted this. And that's the way we are all
along the way. A sad believer. All he can see
is the things of this life. All he can see is the acquaintances
that he has here. And they blind him and cheat
him out of this rejoicing all along the way. All along the
way. That's what it does. We cheat
ourselves of the joy of the whole journey. Rejoice evermore. Pray, he said, without ceasing.
And in everything, whatever it is, you can't rejoice and not
give thanks. In everything, he said, give
thanks. Quench not the spirit. The spirit of the living God
will cause you to rejoice as He reveals these things to your
heart. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove
all things and hold fast to that which is good. And abstain from
all appearance of evil. and the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
the Lord Jesus. Faithful is he that calleth that
will also do it. Rejoice. Rejoice. Our Father, we thank you for
this time together And for the precious, precious promises that
we see and rejoice in in Christ Jesus. All these things. The greatness and majesty of
these things. And the sinfulness of this heart
that can't find reasons to rejoice no matter what comes our way.
Help us take this message and use it for Thy name's honor and
glory for Christ's sake.